Ill-equipped to fight fire, Assam on tinderbox

The procession taken out as part of the fire organisation’s golden jubilee celebrations in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by Eastern Projections Guwahati, Nov 14 : Assam is sitting on a tinderbox with the number of fire stations woefully short of requirement. Given the state’s size, of the 1,400 fire stations required to counter fire-related accidents, only 90 are operational, putting the lives and property of the people at great risk, according to the State Fire Service Organisation (SFSO). According to the national guidelines of fire safety, there should be one fire station in every 10 square km in urban areas and one in every 50 sq km in the rural belts. “Thus the actual requirement of fire stations in the state is about 1,400 against our present strength of only 90,” SFSO director Dilip Kumar Bora said here today on the sidelines of the fire service organisation’s golden jubilee celebrations. “Considering the funds position, the government has decided to sanction new fire stations in a phased manner. We are hopeful that by the end of financial year 2010-11, we will be able to cross the figure of 100,” Bora said. According to data available with the fire service organisation, it has responded to 18,008 fire calls in the past 10 years from 2000 up to August 2009. Of these, 2,499 fires were of major category, 99 serious, 1,513 medium category and 13,897 small fires. Incidents of fire in which human lives are lost or persons injured are classified as serious fire. Property worth nearly Rs 29 crore were damaged while firemen saved property estimated to be around Rs 43 crore. During this period, 325 people were killed and 596 injured while SFSO personnel saved 90 lives. “With rapid urbanisation, a constant rise in population and a frenetic pace of industrialisation, the demand for fire and emergency services is increasing very fast,” Bora said. The Standing Fire Advisory Council, the apex body of fire and safety experts in the country constituted by the Union home ministry, has recommended that SFSO be converted to Fire and Emergency Services under a director general. On the basis of its recommendation, the SFSO has submitted a proposal to the state government. The recommendation stated that the operations should include search, rescue and disaster mitigation services besides fire fighting. “Our state falls in the highly-vulnerable seismic zone V. To ensure that, our capability to mitigate disaster should be properly nurtured and adequate resources, including modern tools and equipment, should be easily available,” Bora said.